Improvement in drawing broken piles out of the ground



J. P. snmncfi & GRAVES. DRAWIHG BROKEN FILES GUT OF THE GROUND.

Patented Apr'1124,'1877'.

Inn-189.962.

. wi mild- MPETERS, FHOTO-LXTHOGRAFHER. WASHINGTON, Dr C.

NITED: STATES PATENT JoHNP. SHELDON AND ORMOND F. GRAVES, OF SAN FRANCISCO, GAL.

IMPROVEMENTIN' DRAWING BBOK-EN PlLES OUT OF THE GROUND;

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N o.'l89.962, dated April 24, 1877; application filed I January 27, 1877.

To all whom it may concern: 4 t

Be it known that we,-JOHN P. SHELDON and ORMOND F. GRAvEs, of the city and county of San Francisco and State of California, have invented a Method and a Machine for Placing Chains for Drawing Broken Piles Out of the Ground; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

The object of our invention is to facilitate the drawing out and removing of piles, and

especially those that'have become-broken be low thewater-level. p t M .It is always desirable to 'draw out and re move the old piles which have supported a wharf when the latter is to be removed or rebuilt, but in the course of time, by accident, decay, or the action of the teredo, or other marine insects, manypiles become broken off below the level of the Water, and sometimes they will drive no farther, until a portion of their upper ends are broken off.

This is very unsatisfactory and incomplete, first, because the piles are originally driven nearly to a stand-still, and an enormous power is necessary to force them any farther and, secondly, because of the great expense of time, labor, and power required, and also because of the total loss of from twenty to sixty feet of good sound pile, which might be used again in places where the depth is not so great, as the portions of the pile below the surface of the mud nearly always remain sound.

In the drawings, Figure 1 represents the machine or device invented by us, and which we call a catcher, and Fig. 2 represents a vertical section of the same,in connection with a broken pile about to be drawn.

' D is a wooden shaft, about thirty feet 1cng,';

and twelve inches in diameter. .E is a metal socket, into which the lower end of the shaft enters, and G is a bolt with nuts to prevent the shaft. from withdrawing from the socket. The holes in the sides of the socket through which the bolt Gr passes, are slots extending above .and below the bolt so that if the shaft is struck by thehammer of a pile-driver, the

boltmay accommodate itself to the spring or elasticity of the wood, and not be cut or broken shaft, so that when desired, the shaft may be.

blown from the socket with powder. A is a sleeve or tube made preferably of boiler-iron, and is made to go down over the pileintended to be drawn. A is about six feet long, and mustbe of suflicient diameter to receive within it any pile intended to be drawn. B is an annular projection extending around, or partly around the tube A, its object being to prevent the chain 0 from slipping upward around the tube. 0 isa heavy chain, and E is a watchtackle for holding the chain taut to the machine, when desired. 1

The tube A and socket E may both be made in one piece of metal, or the socket may be of cast metal, and the tube A riveted to an annular flange left on its lower end, or the shaft may be of iron, and the entire machine made in one piece.

The following is a convenient way of operating our invention We mount upon one end of a large scow or flat boat, an ordinary piledriver, and also by the side thereof, a high derrick or shears, to which is hung a very powerfultackle, capable of lifting nearly one hundred tons.

A bail-handle at the upper end of the shaft D, serves as a convenient device for lifting it, and keeping it in a vertical position. The chain 0 is placed around the lower end of the tube A, and held there by means of the watchtackle F and the projection B. The catcher I is then verticallylifted by the rope of the piledriver, and the scow or float is moved until rin.

lower end of the tube is over the submerged pile intended to be drawn. The pile is conveniently found, by feeling for it with a pole. The catcher is then lowered by the engineer, and receives the upper end of the pile into the tube as it descends. As the tube descends it carries with it down and around the pile, the lower end or fake or noose of the chain 0.

In water or very light sediment, the weight the upper end of the tube, the watch-tackle F is slackened, and the chain is thereby loosened around the tube. chain is then hooked to the heavy tackle attached to the derrick or shears, and the catcher is raised until the tube is withdrawn from the noose of the chain, and the chain is thus left around the pile. The chain is then drawn tight by the heavy tackle, the catcher being lowered back, so that the lower end of the-tube will prevent the chain from slipping upward on the pile until it is drawn so taut around the pile that it will not slip. The catcher is then drawn up out of the way, and the pile is drawn by operating the heavy tackle. The pile-driver and shears can be made movable, and operated upon the adjacent wharf or shore, instead of a scow or flat boat. The dimensions named in these specifications admit of considerable variations, and a The upper end of the 1&95262 long iron rod can be used to advantage for end with the annular projection B, in combination with the catcher O, and watchtackle F, all constructed to operate substantially as set forth.

2. The perforation H, with its connectingchambers, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. The slotted holes through which the bolt Gr passes, as and for the purposes herein set forth. v v

4. The tube A, provided with the annular projection B near its lower end, and with the socket E at its upper end, in combination with the shaft .Dand bolt G, substantially as set forth.

5. The method of placing and fixing chains upon broken or, submerged piles, the same consisting in guiding and forcing down the noose of the chain by means of a tube, A, and a suitable tackling device constructed to operate substantially as andfor the purpose herein described.

In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands and seals. v

JOHN P. SHELDON. OltMONI) F. GRAVES. Witnesses: GEO. H. STRONG, O. T. STAcY.

[L. s.] [L. s.] 

